Our Blog

On Thursday, July 30, Ron Fein joined the Tim Danahey radio show to discuss our amicus brief in the case, International Franchise Association v. Seattle. In this interview, Fein discusses the era of corporate personhood, the Fourteenth Amendment, and how the International Franchise Association is claiming access and protection by this amendment. Stream the interview after the jump. More »

Today, our friends Pay 2 Play launched a new campaign, Money in Politics A to Z . Over the course of a month, a new letter will be released each day that corresponds to an issue in which big money in politics directly relates to. We found a few letters that relate to our own initiatives, which we will launch later next month.More »

Free Speech For People, Courage Campaign, Equal Justice Society and Western Center on Law and Poverty, filed an amicus brief supporting the City of Los Angeles and its new hotel worker “living wage” ordinance against an Equal Protection Clause challenge from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. More »

Last weekend, Free Speech For People traveled to Phoenix, Arizona for the 8th annual Netroots Nation conference, featuring a keynote from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Democrat Presidential candidates, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders, were also in attendance for a townhall style panel hosted by Antonio Vargas. More »

In 2010, a disastrous coal mine explosion at the Upper Big Branch facility claimed the lives of twenty-nine miners. An independent report investigating the blast found Massey Energy directly responsible for its neglect. Massey’s parent corporation agreed to criminal and civil penalties, but such recklessness deserves harsher penalties than a fine or a slap on the wrist. More »

We are pleased to announce the newest addition to our Free Speech For People staff, Aspen Webster. Aspen joins us as the new Administrative and Development Assistant in our Austin, Texas office. More »

In a new post on The Hill, Legal Director Ron Fein and summer legal intern Danny Gifford explain how developing corporate legal strategy is hijacking the hard-won precedent protecting the LGBTQ community. More »

Today, members of the House and Senate sent letters to President Obama, calling for an executive order that would require federal contractors disclose their political spending. The letter comes after months of growing nationwide support from concerned citizens calling on their representatives to support this initiative. In April, our allies and partners rallied outside the White House to deliver more than half a million petition signatures calling on President Obama to issue an executive order. More »

Free Speech for People has filed an amicus brief before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting Montana’s request that a challenge to Montana’s campaign contribution limits for state elections be reheard before a larger group of judges. On May 26, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit overturned a previous panel’s 2003 decision upholding the limits, basing their ruling on a perceived conflict with the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Our brief argues that the panel misread Citizens United, invented a conflict where none exists, and thus acted outside its authority by overruling the earlier panel decision. We were joined in this brief by Board Member James Nelson (a retired Justice of the Montana Supreme Court), the Montana-based American Independent Business Alliance, and the American Sustainable Business Council. More »